


orpheus's song of heart

by Transpacific



Category: IDENTITY V, IdentityV
Genre: M/M, Mention of explicit happening between a main character and an random character but nothing detailed, it's an asylum AU so you'll get the sort of stuff you expect from that, mention of drug overdose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28582968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Transpacific/pseuds/Transpacific
Summary: antonio is sick in the head, luchino is sick in the body and they both sick in tha heart and no the title has nothing to do with the detective LMAO
Relationships: Antonio | Violinist & Luchino | Evil Reptilian
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> another co-written rp with my FAAAAAAAAVORITE bitch on discord and this is another completed thread to collection of our fics, this time LUCHININIIIIIIII coz we both got mad brainrot anyhow — usual disclaimer is that here and there may be typos, inconsistency, odd sounding pov blah blah blah enjoy the show hope there's not a lot of repetitive adjectives on my part AKA my greatest writing sin 
> 
> co-author note: I am very sorry for writing joseph like a bad 90's anime antagonist, i'm not his biggest fan and i worry it shows

"You cruel man, you beast!"  
A screech, followed by a crescendo of bookshelf being pulled over in a fit of rage.  
"You really must understand, it's for your own good."  
A placated reply from a serenely furious doctor, his usually neat and elegant ponytail and ribbon in a state of disarray as owed to the on-going quarrel. 

"Return it to me, you have absolutely no right to my possessions!" The patient pointed a lengthy index to the antagonist doctor, strands of black fringe sticking to the sickly man's sweaty forehead.

Other patients who were previously enjoying their leisure time out and about during the afternoon huddled close together out of fear of the noise, the confrontation.  
All was peaceful until this particular patient seemed to flee from his room in a panic, searching for a misplaced item which ought never be, and never is, misplaced.  
He accused the hospital's renowned hypnotist of sabotage and theft, of concealing his possession, to which the hypnotist confessed his guilt. 

"That instrument is the source of your delusion and sickness, in addition it would be too easy for another patient to swipe it, and use it's anatomy for wrong, I'm sure you can understand that.." The hypnotist had said earlier, at the start of this confrontation.

The patient was stricken.  
"I cannot live without it, you will return it to me." He ordered the doctor, who quirked a brow in return as he was intrigued by the notion he need follow the command of a delusional and sick man who hadn't bothered to see the logic of the doctor's previous words.

The doctor had insisted he be weaned off the instrument during his stay here, and focus on recovering his physical health alongside his mental, but the patient in question would have none of it and began to raise his voice alongside his temper, leading to now.

"You're only hurting yourself in this display, well.." The doctor glanced downwards to the topped bookshelf.

"Yourself, and the bookshelf.." He added quietly.  
Returning his attention to the patient,

"I've hidden it, and you shan't see so much as a string for as long as you're admitted here."  
The doctor's tone was cold and sharp, and as intended it wounded the patient as though a dagger twisted into his gut, he seemed to double over, gripping at his stomach which tightened into stressed and angry knots.

"You see? Even the thought of that instrument tortures you. The director agrees with me that it's surely the best method for you."

The doctor, Joseph, felt it safe enough to approach the patient to console him. Due to the man's pain, he would be unable to lash out in his misguided fury.

"You," The sickly man hissed from gritted teeth, strained with effort to speak at all as his pain flared.  
"Are not my doctor, you have no right.." Cut off with a sharp inhale, trying to suppress the pain as he collapsed weakly onto his knees.

"Oh for mercy's sake.." Desaulniers put his palm to his face, having had more than enough of this tantrum.  
Brushing himself off, he glanced about to the nervous, nearby patients.

"There's little else to see here you lot, clear back to your rooms." He clapped loudly twice, causing the collapsed man to flinch as though struck.  
The other patient's quietly did as ordered.

"I wonder if we ought strap you to your bed for a few days, keep you from wandering, from agitating and hurting yourself so.." Desaulniers wondered out-loud, feeling himself smile, knowing how that would torture the troublesome patient, who's head dangled like a corpse's as he gazed to the floor, the length of black hair concealing his fearful expression.

For better and for worse, DeRossi was always on the move to work on some task or another— there was always something to be done and hardly a moment to rest between his chores and researches, but it wasn't a living he disliked, it just meant that he was often late as he went from one place to another and lagged behind his schedule, everything was done thoroughly though and not a single patient or item was forgotten.

As he peered through the cafeteria, it was full but the patients inside were quiet as they muttered amongst themselves, working in the mad house long enough he understood this atmosphere meant there was some local drama alerting and scaring the patients, others were a touch excited at the drama that was happening elsewhere.

Huffing, DeRossi scoped around the area for anyone that would give him a tidbit on what had the crowd so intrigued.  
He saw a familiar and well liked patient talking to some of the less lucid to calm them, Carl was a breath of fresh air in Luchino's eyes as he was incredibly useful in speaking with the patients on their own terms and oddly enough, he always assisted the much more troublesome patients.  
Busy like himself, Luchino wouldn't approach the man to get a hint and would instead linger through the halls to try and find the source of discomfort for himself, asking the patients about it could either excite them or lead into conversation.

Rushing as he walked along, Luchino exited the bustle of the full room and went down corridors and halls were select few patients still walked as usual, talking with each other or staring lost outside the window.  
As he hurried along, Luchino could hear a brief shout from further down the way, the voice was familiar but he wouldn't put stock into it until he could figure out if there was any reason such a man would yell.

At an already brisk pace, Luchino was nearly running as he tried to see what the brief commotion was, already assessing he must've arrived at the end of it as it had ushered any disturbed patient away to the mess hall.  
He breathed steadily as he made his way through the structure with no real love for how long it always felt, it took forever to get across as he finally arrived to another turn where he suspected the shout came from and sure enough..

"Doctor Desaulniers? What's happening? Why are you here and why is everyone huddling to the mess?"

Seeing the familiar face, Luchino approached with the hope, a very dumb hope but hoping nonetheless the drama had nothing to do with the callous man who's reputation often had Luchino working harder then he had to in order to fix the damage the other would create in his idle time and practices to recover the insane,

"And you— scoot, scoot, you're gonna bother your friend in there."

Ushering the lingering patients away, he carefully came forward to see the patient and sure enough, it was exactly who he worried it was,

"Wha—.. What did you do to him?"

Luchino peered over Paganini, fallen and pained over the floor with an obvious dismay.  
Stepping inside the room, Luchino bent down for a quick look over the man to check for any possible open wounds, by his own hands or another doctors,

"You'd better let me hear an explanation on this!"

Turning his head toward Desaulniers, Luchino examined the state of the room, pushing local objects area from the vicinity of himself and the patient.  
This hospital was divided amongst themselves. Patients had specific loyalties to particular doctors, and the doctors even often collided amongst one another based on the intimate differences in treatments and methods.  
Desaulniers' methods bordered on merciless. He found it counter-productive to baby and coddle a patient, seeing them as conniving and manipulative. Too many of them wanted to stay ill, hide inside their wounded identities because it was easier, and less painful than healing.

Healing was pain. You knew a wound was being effectively cleaned when the agent burned a little over it. 

Doctor DeRossi and Desaulniers butted heads in great frequency, over endless subjects be it professional or personal scale, they did not seem to agree over a single subject. It would happen that DeRossi was Paganini's appointed doctor. 

"What I did to him?" Joseph repeated, aghast, gesturing to the collapsed bookshelf that the now incapacitated patient had thrown over with his meager energy. A waste for an intimidation tactic. 

"He has exhausted himself throwing a fit, I haven't laid a hand on him." The hypnotist crossed his arms, growing wearier now at the protective doctor's arrival to complicate this nonsense further.

As DeRossi bent down to Paganini to inspect him, the free hand clutched at his lab coat, his grip as tight as the one which held onto his own stomach.

"He stole my violin,"

His voice was hoarse and strained.  
"He has stolen it,"

His sentence cut off, unable to force his voice more lest he invoke further wrath in his stomach.

Paganini's afflictions were, more than anything, physical. For most accounts it would make the most sense he were admitted to a proper hospital, not an insane asylum, however he did seem to suffer a fantastical delusion which urged another doctor he sought counsel with, to be admitted here, at the White Sandstreet Asylum. 

He claims to have dealt with the devil, to hear his voice and instructions.  
That, in turn, has lead him into a philosophy to drink deeply of all of life's pleasures.  
Too much pleasure destroys one's mind and body. Gambling, faux-poverty, alcoholism, all served only to irritate further his naturally weak constitution.  
It was considered, that if he could purify his mind of the devil's influence, his body might follow suit.

Due to his fame, he had what Desaulniers considered to be a diva complex, letting it get to his head. And DeRossi, who's tender heart bled for every patient in this God forsaken place, indulged the pitiful sinner, allowing him his instrument, allowing him a number of other luxuries which should not be available to a patient in need of strict minding. 

"You spoil him rotten, and it is I who's to endure a child's tantrums?" Joseph inquired, though the question was rhetorical. 

"He should receive no special treatment, I've discussed it with Lapadura and he agrees; Paganini cannot be treated properly, for as long as he has access to his instrument." 

Doctor Desaulniers would repeat this phrase as many times as necessary.  
Agitatingly, Desaulniers made a point, he did have the habit of spoiling Paganini with much of what he'd request, be it sweets, another blanket, conversation, another extra blanket to stuff under his door to mute the sounds that would clatter from underneath, he did provide all that he requested but it was always because the patient had good behavior and would abide to the lifestyle in the hospital much easier if there was nothing he could qualm with,

"You know he loves that violin! I think it's fine he should use it so long as he doesn't hurt himself or anyone else with it! And he wasn't yet so why start now, huh?"

Luchino argued, standing high as he nearly sized up to the other doctor in front of him with no intention to take that anywhere,

"Music is good for the mind and under our agreement, he doesn't play anything that would make the others grow fanatical! If you hadn't taken it away, none of this would occur..!"

Gesturing widely to the messy room, Luchino stomped his foot as a physical punctuation in his argument for the violinist's special privilege,

"You and Lapadura just have no imagination for what makes them better! All patients are different, no single treatment should be distributed to them as though they're all the same! Music makes this man happy and it makes the others happy too!.. Give him back his instrument at earliest convenience or you will see him get much, much worse."

As Luchino yelled on in defense, he took a deep breath before he finished with a curt request of cooperation from the other, as stealing from the other's office could get him in some trouble and if Desaulniers really wanted to make a mess of it, he could bring that offense to court, but the man was lazy so he'd rest somewhat easy thinking it wouldn't come to that,

"I'll cover a job for you later if you do this now, take a free hour break or something— just give back his violin and he and I will talk."

Firmly stated, Luchino looked back down onto the poor man below, his physical health was much worse then his mental health but according to county law, words of people were said to have spoken to the devil were no easy accusations to shake off, but mostly the man required medication for his body, not mind.

The rival doctor's attachment had something of an amusing characteristic to it.

Desaulniers disapproved of it by and whole, but putting DeRossi at his disposal in return for the favor of returning an infant's pacifier was in itself, a tempting offer.

"He has told me in the past he feels he would die without his instrument, I could take that as suicidal ideation very easily, you know." Joseph pointed.

The implications of that tend to amount to one of the most lamentable fates here.

Solitary confinement, intense fettering to protect one from themselves, sensory deprivation, medications so strong they leave a patient in a miserable drugged up stupor. It was difficult to recover from, and too easy to accuse a patient of.

DeRossi would be unable to protect his charge, thusly, Joseph let the threat sit in the air, savoring his rival's plea and quietness.  
"But, you are his doctor, and I'm certain you know what is best for him." Joseph began work to fix and smoothen his hair to see it returned to the usual pristine state.  
"I'll retrieve it from my office, where I've hidden it alongside stolen knives, shards of glass, pens, and other dangerous contraband." To further his point.  
"For now, I would be grateful if you could see him cleaned up and returned to his room." Joseph added, scowling down to the troublesome patient.  
With a snap of his fingers, Joseph alerted an orderly who had been standing near by, waiting to see if his assistance would need be required to pry a furious patient from a doctor, was assigned to fixing the bookshelf with a mute order from the hypnotist.

No matter the plausible scenarios Desaulniers could make up in his wicked, love deprived mind, Luchino was confident in his ability to win against the man's malicious ideas through his sheer faith of his patients, anyone of them but specifically his faith in Paganini in this scenario.  
For as long as he needed to hold onto the other doctor's favor however, he'd keep himself quiet on the matter and let the snooty man have his last laugh as he so often needed to have in any conversation,  
"Tch.."

Luchino spit as the hypnotist made himself absent from face-to-face company,

"What an ass."

Crossing his arms, Luchino took a deep deep breath and exhaled loudly in a groan as he squatted down to Paganini's level and pat the man's shoulder,

"Whatever, we'll get you that violin back, si? For now, let's see you up and in your bed, you sad, sad man."

Snickering at the man's poor health, Luchino shuffled himself to rest the violinist's arm over his shoulder to hoist the ill man onto his feet,

"Thanks for your work, sir. We'll be outta your way now."

Excusing himself and Paganini from the orderly's presence, Luchino sauntered steady and slow as to not push the patient's already delicate foundation,

"Sooo.. Mind telling me what got you on his bad side?"

Much as he disliked the other doctor, even Luchino could recognize that the man mostly acted out when a patient broke a rule, he wouldn't weigh out Paganini giving attitude of sorts to the wrong diva, both of them too prideful to admit any defeat even if it would've been convenient.  
Despite the little snark having been made at his own expense, Antonio felt himself smiling at it as he was hoisted back onto his unsteady feet, his weight bared easily by the doctor.  
The orderly bowed a grateful head to Luchino with a weary smile as he saw to his task, having no real resentment to the patient more than he did for the cold doctor, who couldn't even be bothered with a please, or a thank you, great in contrast to the always friendly Luchino. In a league of his own, all would agree.

Soothed nearly instantly at the promise made to see his instrument returned to him, Antonio's fury dissipated like steam into the air, leaving only his withering self behind.

"Ah, who knows.." Antonio blearily waved it off, whether this was the truth or not was difficult to discern.

"He is wicked, I think he simply enjoys torturing others." Added bitterly.

As the pair made slow progress, patients did their utmost to peer from outside the peephole's of their doors, trying to catch a glimpse that could provide any information as to the source of the great unrest that happened.

Luchino could imagine a number of scenarios that would end in the resulted tantrum, it wasn't hard to get on either of their bad sides and neither would back down from a squabble, but just as Paganini could easily observe in the openly sadistic man, Desaulniers had a twisted enjoyment in exercising power and reminding every patient that tried to rebel in their own way that all attempts were futile and if they tempted too much, it would end poorly unless Luchino himself could intervene, but due to the fact that he and Lapadura often knew they were up to deplorable methods, they kept most operations of their signing a secret from himself.

Scoffing, Luchino shook his head,

"That's true.. Real ass through and through."

Luchino would curse the man when he could, also sick of his behavior,

"But, no matter. He can be pretty easy to work over and we'll get you that violin back."

With a confident sneer, Luchino nudged his shoulder into Paganini before he redirected the conversation,

"You need to remember though, you can't play any exciting tunes with that violin of yours. Exciting the other patients annnd scaring them with devilish music is a sure-fire way to get your violin taken away."

Luchino wasn't positive if his music was the source of the argument, but even he'd need to speak an authorative word to ensure Paganini kept his music quiet and gentle,

"Long as you play it smooth and easy, I'll make sure you keep it."

Ensuring the patient, he arrived at the room which belonged to the man and reached an arm out to turn the handle, ushering both inside and closing the door behind to make sure no onlookers would follow in.  
Gently sitting himself and Paganini onto the bed, Luchino wiggled himself away from the other and stood proud at the foot of the bed, pleased to see the man already in better health.  
With affections undisguised by any sort of guile or innocent-misunderstandings, Antonio rested his weight against Luchino's body for as long as their stroll permitted it, soothed by the warmth, by the cuddle-like feeling.

Antonio was notoriously particular about being touched; Other patients earned his attitude and ire if they touched him, and it could result in another similar fit if doctor's saw fit to put their hands on him when he did not permit it. 

Doctor DeRossi was the only exception, and he actively sought physical contact nearly incessantly.  
When Luchino rested him into a sit on the bed, Antonio's fingers ghosted across the other, savoring the entirety of the touch.

Wasting no time burying himself into his bed, Antonio wrapped up underneath his three blankets, two of which were special favors from the doctor himself.  
The length of black hair was knotted in a mess, still stuck to Antonio's face in a disarray that the man himself seemed to pay no mind to, perhaps simply unable to find the energy to so much brush his hair, and put it out of his face.

"He stole it while I had been sleeping, that snake."

Being a man who valued privacy and solitude as much as he did, the reminder that his less favorable doctors could simply enter whenever they saw fit struck unpleasant chords.

With a heavy exhale, Antonio's thin form seemed to sink deeper beneath the blankets, until only his nose and the top of his head remained un-covered, eyes and features obscured by the hair. A heavy sulk.  
As the violinist situated himself into the bed, Luchino invited himself over to the side of the bed, tucking the blankets in more and prettying the bed for the exhausted man,

"Even a snake is more polite then he is,"

Luchino huffed bemused, holding snakes at a higher regard then the doctor he had the unfortunate circumstance to work with,

"Snakes will kill as fast as they can and they get no joy from poisoning their foods, Desaulniers gets a little too puffy from causing torment and making others upset."

With a haughty scoff, Luchino shook his head as he daintily started preening Paganini's hair, smoothing the awry strands and brushing it down as he allowed the man to settle,

"I'll see if I can tell him to at least have the dignity to take it from you while you're awake, pff, then he'd have to debate you for it!"

Chuckling, he tenderly brushed his hair from the center of his forehead, knowing well that it would fall back into place eventually but giving it a temporary fix anyways,

"You just settle yourself down, that tummy ache will sort itself."

Through with organizing the man's hair, Luchino shuffled himself to sit at the foot of the bed as he kept the patient company,

"Well, whatever! One bad egg of many good! You have friends here, right? I know there are lots of good kids here so I'm sure quite a few of them would be just as upset as you are for this—,"  
Making a few wild gestures, Luchino shrugged,

"Mess."

Snickering, his laugh turned into a groan as he thought of Desaulniers action, sick of the man all together and waiting impatiently for the day the man finally gave into his nerves and quit to find another hospital.

Antonio smiled again, a signature expression of his, though it was difficult to tell as his face was hidden by the blanket he buried himself in.  
For all of his attitude and ego, he was a very easy to please and amuse man, it was just as easy to make him happy as it was to bother him.  
It was nearly odd, Luchino never irritated him. He only seemed to make him glad. 

In passing conversation simply as the doctor mentioned reptiles, Antonio felt liveliness, assisting him in ignoring the pain in his stomach which slowly pacified itself.  
He was rather beside himself in amusement at the near maternal way Luchino tucked him tightly beneath the covers, ensuring no blanket lifts would cause a draft under his covers, preserving his hard earned warmth. Antonio joked that he himself may be cold-blooded, he seemed to lack the ability to produce his own heat.  
Eyes closing only briefly as the doctor fixed his hair, he enjoyed the touch.

"Of course I have friends here!" Antonio practically popped out from underneath his sulky, hiding hole, already rejuvenated quite a bit. 

With a nearly un-detectable wince, he settled himself and inwardly reminded himself not to over-do it, reign in excitement a little lest his stomach re-tie itself.

"If I thought this place such a hell hole, I would demand my release, or at the very least, hospitalization elsewhere." The violinist snorted, rolling his dark eyes.

"I've been hospitalized more times than I would bother to count. Hundreds of doctors and various medical professionals of various qualifications. It hardly means a thing to me at this point beyond another inconvenience." Oddly cheerfully he stated as much, with only a subtle nod to his poor-off habit of accepting pseudo-medicines for his various ailments.  
"But this, is the first mental institution, so I'm.." He trailed off, looking for the word.

"Optimistic." Another curse of his.

"And," He added, slightly strained by a movement in his stomach.

"I have a great fondness of you, you help me so." 

His fondness nearly always went undisguised, and his statements of affections were often as blunt. He left it to Luchino to use word-play to water them down a little. Antonio was aware he had the reputation to be affectionate.

His personality was a strong one, and he was ever a fool in love. Thusly, it disturbed no one when he displayed fondness for his doctor, who seemed to humor the whimsical man's desires.

"Even now, you promise to see my violin returned to me, which I cannot thank you enough for." 

A visible grin, propping himself up to sit in his bed, fingers tapping idly over his lap.  
Antonio's smile seemed merely stuck, rather than a proper and natural expression.

"I cannot live without it, I need it at all times, so, I am grateful to you again."

As the violinist humored his conversation to soothe his nerves and stomach ache, Luchino turned his head away in time to avoid the man's pleasant smile, weak, too wide and meager as it was, it was enough to strike an unnerving amount of embarrassment into Luchino's core.  
Thankfully, Paganini's words were a fast distraction from his shallow troubles, he'd barely have the stamina to picture his patient fatally wounding himself because Desaulniers believed his violin was the source of his torment, it showed Luchino clearly just how old the other doctor's ideals were, seeming to really believe the violin as the devil's instrument, an entity the violinist claimed to be quite buddy-buddy with,

"Eh, really it's the least I can do, you don't need to be over the top about it."

Patting the patient's feet hidden cozy underneath the blankets.  
Sitting up from the bed, Luchino started pacing around the room as he carried along in conversation, fond as he was of the patient's company, there were lots of updates he asked from the violinist, every other day they'd speak, Luchino would walk through several questions regarding the man, most of which didn't have much to do with progression of health or how he was faring, they started professional and crumbled into personal questions, all of which the other humored with an answer,

"Who would you say your favorite friends here are? Do they treat you good and make you feel involved?"

Luchino started with a playful tone, tilting his head toward the man as he walked in circles.  
Watching passively at the doctor's hyperactive habits, the way he paced and hopped about so which endeared to Antonio further.  
His own smile was serene, settled down easily.

"You are my favorite, of course." Antonio answered, tone bordering suggestive. A well known womanizer he was, it was a cultivated skill. Of course, it was fun to attempt to fluster his conversational partners and see what could come of it.

"You treat me wonderfully ~ !" He sung, with as much gusto as his weakened state permitted.

As Paganini's words met his ears, the patient earned a well-worn scowl from the doctor, creases on his eyebrows which promised to become early wrinkles if he kept glaring at other's for their innocent quips and comments,

"You know that isn't what I meant."

Luchino groaned at the man, his sharp leer relaxing into an indifferent expression once more,

"Fellow patients, I mean. There are a few rowdy ones, yes, but I also know plenty of good souls out there, some of which hold you in high opinion, though.. Everyone including myself hold the belief that you're often a shut in.."

Theatrically, Luchino turned his head slowly toward the patient with a quirked eyebrow as he began inquiring the man's anti-social behaviors,

"You come out for a little while, full of cheer and delight, you eat and then retire to your room as soon as possible— it leads me to wonder if there's anyone causing you issue or, though I am loooooaathe to believe it; you just don't like the other patients?"

Done with his talking, Luchino popped himself onto the foot of the bed again and hunched forward in a comfortable posture, looking over the violinist with a snarky smile.

The scowls and scolding's of the doctor never phased not bothered Antonio, knowing them to be a front, a charming quality of his uniquely cranky disposition, all bark and no bite. Even if he glared or became cross, it was unlikely he was sincerely angry. 

On the rare occasions he did become so, Antonio is well used to wearing on the temper of other's, he fended himself well of anger most of the time.

"What of you, Doctor?" Antonio inquired back, meeting the sly smile and inquiry with ones of his own.

"You don't seem to get along so grandly with the other staff members equal to your rank."

Luchino was always very polite, talkative, with orderlies and nurses, but in Antonio's own observations, reserved and private with his own fellow doctors.  
Suited to his coyness, Antonio superfluously observed his left hand, his finger nails and the callouses over the tips.

Paganini wasn't shy about his tendency to step around subjects and dodge the truth, it took Luchino hardly a day to see how the man operated when direct questions were pointed at him, playful and secretive was usually a hard, famously hard case to crack, but Paganini opened up to Luchino well, especially when he'd answer questions the patient would ask as well, trust was a two-way street, after all.  
A scowl could hardly stay off his expression as he spoke with the violinist, one would be better under the impression he was deeply annoyed with the man and disliked spending any amount of time in his company, but the fortunate fact of the matter was that Luchino was intrigued and kept sprightly around his company and often ran himself late to another task with how distracted he'd get in conversation or 'check ups',

"You've seen how they act, not a very fun bunch, wouldn't you say? I feel like it's easy to see where my distaste for them comes from, blegh."

Sticking out his tongue in disgust of the mere thought of their company, Luchino furthered his point with smug huff as he leaned back and crossed his arms,

"My pickings are slim, you've got quite a lotta people to choose from, so come onnnnn, what's the idea with you hiding out here all day?"

Gesturing to his vicinity, he forced the conversation back onto his patient now that he'd concisely answered the man's prodding.  
It was with a cheerful laugh that Antonio replied initially. 

Trust most certainly was a two-way-street, a large reason he never cooperated with any other doctor, was because they did not cooperate with him.  
One could not treat another person with mistrust, and demand they in return trust you with discussion and tidbits they had no yet entrusted to even their closest companions.  
For some reason or other, about the hospital that was considered a controversial concept with which the doctor's in an educated manner tended to disagree with.  
Antonio always made Luchino earn his cooperation, and he always did, despite being of a similar, private demeanor.  
That was how Antonio knew the value of even mundane answers from the doctor.  
Even simple trivia, and opinions, were things his collogues were not aware. In turn, the violinist offered information of equal value.

"It is simply my nature." He confessed, his voice seemed to smile but was tinged with melancholy.

His true nature was something he knew precious little about.  
That is why he gambled, drank, and slept with whoever was as easy as he himself.  
Luchino told these things to himself rather in a blunt manner early on in their work, and Antonio was speechless at the time, knowing it was true.  
In his own time, he pondered himself outside of his gilded cage, but it was difficult to find an authentic piece of self un-influenced by the fettering he felt so cozy in.  
Antonio had half a mind to spin a pompous persona, tell his doctor he hated to mingle with the masses because he believed himself above them.

"I don't very much enjoy a crowd, unless they are an audience before me."

Hundreds to thousands of faceless fools waiting to be pleased, entertained and amazed. Antonio could manage that with ease, he could horrify and astound with a fanciful trick or two. He was a figure as gilded as everything else he knew-- Gold and dazzling on the outside, and that was all that mattered.

The intimacy of individuals before him, however.. With names, lives of their own, they were too clever. They saw easily thru his glittery façade, and judged him accordingly.  
Kicking one leg over the other, Luchino nodded with a curious hum as though he didn't believe something in Paganini's answer and surely he felt as though something didn't line up properly, but he couldn't quite figure why.

"That's a dangerous mindset to keep onto, y'know."

Luchino stated as he rolled his head to stare at the man,

"The less you see people as people, the more you separate yourself from everyone else you view as nothing more then a crowd."

Poking a finger in Paganini's direction, the doctor loosely criticized the behavior of a natural born performer and a lonesome artist, it was a typical condition the more famous they became, Luchino could almost worry about all the performers out wandering the world who didn't have the devil as an excuse to check into an asylum,

"Much as we'd alllll love to pretend we can live without others and get on easy without friends, the sad fact is that it all is just that— pretend. You're human just like me, Paganini, you need to socialize."

Firmly patting the top of the violinist's leg, Luchino situated himself deeper onto the bed until his feet threatened to come off the floor,

"You be careful, mister. I'm gonna start locking you out from your bedroom until I decide you've had enough talk time with the other kids..!"

Menacingly laughing at Paganini with his threat to force the man to socialize, the doctor enjoyed his conversation with the other as he always seemed to.  
Smile fading into undisguised melancholy, the violinist became quiet knowing once again he could not defend himself nor argue.  
Luchino was as keen as always, and not exactly one to mix medicine and honey to make it easier to swallow.

"It is not as though I do not want friends." Was his defense, toned with an appropriate amount of attitude. 

"Others do not wish to know me-- No one wants to be my friend." 

Grinning again, in a rather unnatural tone. He was clearly unhappy, yet grinned as though ecstatic as he sank downwards into his bed again.

"They want my money, they want me to make them famous, they want to hear my music," He went on.

It was not a baseless paranoia of his.  
It was a matter of fairly constant public news that he was in the midst of a falling out with a previously dear companion who revealed their greedy true colors. Somehow, Antonio was always naïve enough to believe a person at their first impression.  
How foolish, he would always think, I am.

"And here.." He lifted a weak hand, waved it with a dismission.

"They are, I think.. A bit afraid of me. I know they can see the devil as he lingers about my person." 

A humorless giggle.

"I cannot even find a fuck if I do not earn it with my music."

Having done a significant amount of reading in papers new and old to catch up on his new patient, Luchino had no way to dispute the loneliness and hurt done onto by others who merely framed as friends until the time was right to gather the man's cruel earned money.  
He knew that people were intimidated by the man and thought lowly of him despite being nearly addicted to the sound he could produce off of his instrument of choice, surely the cruelty was almost laughable to Luchino, but not funny enough to earn a smile back onto his face after the blue turn in conversation.

"Now, now, no one should be fucking anyone here, so it's not as though that should be your number one issue!.."

Pointing out his most obvious grievance first, Luchino huffed a sigh as he tried to soothe away the other's torment,

"And the only reason they would be is because you're letting them believe there's an actual devil around you, me? I don't see poo!"

Waving his arms above Paganini's body, Luchino neglected the fact that all supernatural beings were the same in the fact that if you couldn't see them, you couldn't touch them, seeing was believing in Luchino's case however and he saw skin nor hide of some red devil,

"The patients are an easily frightened bunch, especially of ghosts! They'll get spooked away if they end up believing you've got a devil on that shoulder of yours."

Leaning closer over the bed, Luchino propped his arms above the body of his patient and lowered his head down with an wicked, mischievous grin,

"Their paranoia runs crazy and it runs deep..!"

The doctor joked with a funny voice before a chuckle broke through, causing him to sit back up properly as he shook his head.

Antonio somewhat abruptly raised his head to the door, listening to footsteps approach from down the length of the corridor outside.

Two polite knocks on the door, and then Desaulniers appeared, looking rather weary but polished since the incident earlier, a violin and bow in hand, which he held delicately despite his dislike of the tool.  
Much as he resented having to return the object, it costed more than the hypnotist would be eager to replace.  
Skeptical of the scene before him, the display of casual intimacy between doctor and patient, Joseph quirked a brow, and looked to Luchino with an undisguised judgement, however it did not seem he would address the oddities present.

"As promised," Joseph bit back the urge to heave a sigh. 

"Your violin, Maestro."  
Meant without the usual honorific that title tended to refer.

Antonio seemed cautious as Joseph entered, but with his dark eyes on his violin, he grinned nearly manically.  
Not unlike a dog, Paganini was fast to hear any upcoming disturbance and hardly a beat behind, Luchino turned toward the door to see Desaulniers return with the fabled violin in hand, a otherwise regular violin like any other, but one that was played to its perfection and held a place dire and dear in the wielder's heart,

"Ah—.."

Luchino started, a bit sheepish.

"Yes, er.. Thank you, doctor."

Standing up briskly, he stepped over and cautiously stretched his hands forward to take the instrument, glancing over his shoulder to peer at the violinist to who it belonged to.  
With extreme caution, Luchino took it and tried to mimic how the more cultured Desaulniers held the instrument, never a field Luchino had experience in but he knew well such a high value instrument came with high costs, and to handle it in front of Paganini was.. More pressure then he would've liked,

"I'll get go ahead and give this to him and be out again soon."

Alerting Desaulniers that he didn't have much the plan to continue slacking off with the patient, Luchino turned around and stiffly walked toward Paganini's bed, instrument held awkwardly but safely in his hands,  
A tension seemed to rise from Antonio with his violin in the room, but not within his own hands, it was difficult to discern whether he was excited, or something else, if he was indifferent to the handlers, or if they enraged him with their inadequate delicacy.  
Joseph's eyes went back to Luchino's figure, recognizing his sheepishness and deciding the opportune times to strike further to wound his pride. 

"You'll have to discuss your defense to the director, you're aware.." Joseph said, maintaining a professionalism that Luchino seemed to lack. 

"Lapadura agrees with me, as I had said prior, that Paganini will make no progress towards recovery if he may still be permitted to play here."

The violinist in question made no moves to defend himself, his doctor acting as lawyer.

"This is supposed to be.. A rest, for him. Surely you agree it would relax him more if he was not so compelled to play?" Joseph tried reasoning, leaning against the doorframe with an obvious tiredness. 

This asylum was hardly a spa resort or rest, Antonio had the urge to laugh and refer to Joseph's flowery adjective, but wisely kept quiet.

He foolishly hoped the Frenchy would let it be, that he'd return the violin, huff-puff a little and walk away, but Luchino's attempt to turn his back on the man to encourage Desaulniers to leave was met on blind eyes, earning a long sigh from Luchino who kept onto the instrument,

"You and Lapadura seem to agree on everything, I could almost worry you're in cahoots."

Luchino whined with a strain of agitation in his tone, after speaking these words,

"He'll be restless if he can't see it, violently so. It's not a withdrawal of any kind, it's an attachment that really shouldn't be broken."

Weary as Desaulniers, Luchino turned to face the man as he tried to explain his actions to the other doctor, trying to keep his annoyance to himself as to not cause needless spits,

"I mean— you'd be pretty piss— angry, if someone took your camera away because we decided it was causing you grief of some kind, right? But as well, it makes you happy."

Raising the violin a bit further up, Luchino notched his head toward Paganini to refer to the similar attachments that Desaulniers failed to equate,

"Same is happening here, it's bad for him but it's simultaneously good for him. He knows not to go too nuts when he's playing, so I think it's fine."

Turning around again, Luchino approached a table to delicately lay the instrument on top of, officially too scared to hold to precious object any longer.  
Quieting to the well reasoned enough reply, Joseph knew in himself the grief his photography could cause, but it was not something he could so easily abandoned. That Luchino could surmise as much validated the hypnotist's need to keep a scrutinizing eye on the doctor.

"We are in league with one another, we're the same medical staff at the same hospital, after all." Joseph replied, accused to Luchino who observed there was a divide at all.

Hopefully, Joseph thought, he understood then that it was two against one in all cases.  
Luchino merely scowled as Desaulniers made the lukewarm attempt to remind his coworker that they all worked for the same reason and worked to 'help' the same people, but he knew better since too early on that he was quite working against the tide, two against one was never a good idea but one Luchino strived to fix anyways,

"Yeah, sure."

Bitterly he agreed, shoving hands into his pockets as his mood fell from the enjoyment he felt earlier.  
Turning around to briefly face Paganini, Luchino stepped over to the wired violinist and gave the man a firm pat on the shoulder,

"You have fun now, but not too much."

With a tight smile, he left the pair be and marched on toward Desaulniers, waving a hand goodbye,

"Let's get back to work and leave him be for a bit, eh?"

With a lighter tone, Luchino hopped past Joseph and carried down the hall, already walking off at a fast pace to escape the other doctor and to make up on his lost time.

"Let's." 

Following the other doctor's suit, Joseph began after him at a calm pace, each step which echoed thru the hallway had an anxiety inducing affect on all patients who heard, which rivaled Luchino's more lively steps.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co-author: Brief chapter just to break up the story a little bit, which may make it easier to read
> 
> also, although most people are officially coining 'Diruse' as Luchino's surname as I believe the De Rossi family are completely other folks, it makes no sense to us and this is the hill we will die on

Itching his arm underneath his coat and shirt, he couldn't figure out if his skin was terribly dry today or if it was some rash he got out of no where it felt like, but either way the unsanitary itching and annoyance caused by it was reason enough to feel a bit cross today, with no lotion assisting this issue.

Reaching between bottles, Luchino looked over the labels to ensure there was no tampering and to see when the medicine would need to be refilled and most importantly; refilled with what, getting the perfect medication for the patient's was probably the most troublesome task but one that would undeniably help them get out of this roach hotel.

Having tended to the most of them, Luchino sighed with triumph as he finished assortment and turned around to move onto the next task, opening the door and spotting the ever-useful Aesop down the hall,

"Ah! Good to see you around here but I admit, it's also odd to see you on your own?"

Luchino exclaimed and began small talk from across the hall, giving him a reason to put off moving right onto the next problem, itching his arm idly as he stood still.  
Part of Aesop was disappointed to find the doctor in the pharmacy, double, perhaps even triple checking the medicines for rifling and theft.   
The doctor Rorschach had a notorious history of medicine theft-- Finding himself in rather intense disagreement with the hypnotist over the medicines and dosages certain patients ought be on. 

"Doctor.." A greeting with a slightly bowed head.

"Norton is in the courtyard, Eli is with Margaretha in the common room, and Tracy is.." 

Likely still in solitary confinement, the sentence needn't be finished.  
Clearing his throat and regaining his professional styled demeanor, though perhaps he often tried too hard.

"I was curious about the progress of your work, of late..?"

Over all it sounded pretty regular, the couple of them were troublesome patients but with Aesop's help, it seems as though they were all indulging in the day safe and sound,

"Ah, good, good."

Luchino assessed proudly, writing off that those four wouldn't have to be checked on until bed time, except for Tracy, a patient that was enormously difficult even to Luchino and for some reason, Lapadura was always way ahead of himself when it came to her care, a near worrisome dedication he'd shown to a patient but the dedication was far from good, rather the man seemed persistent to wearing her nerves and causing harm to the girl, harm that Luchino couldn't easily reverse.

Sighing in a grimace and he and Aesop danced around the subject of Tracy, his curiosity was touched when the patient asked about his work, a worrisome notion,

"Hm? SSDD, for the most part."

Luchino gave his reply in his usual relaxed way, the days didn't differ much as weeks turned to months, it wasn't something he disliked though,

"I've noticed the seasonal depressions haven't been too bad this month around, so that's good news. Probably didn't need me to tell you that though."

Shrugging, Luchino looked up as he tried to think of anything else that seemed outstanding or peculiar,

"Eh, well, Lapadura has been kinda nice as of recent, nice as he can be anyways..!"

Laughing, he itched his arm between the jape,

"Keeps giving me smoothies at lunch, says I don't eat enough to keep up good work. Meh, I think it's his grandpa instinct kicking in..!"

Nudging Aesop with a sneaky laugh, he was truly humored over the idea of grandpa Burke, but all things considered, Luchino was the youngest doctor of them all so maybe it made sense that Lapadura would give into kindness finally and take care of someone,

"Nothing more then that though. How about your end? Anything from the inside I should be worried 'bout?"

Quitting with his old people jokes, Luchino went back to business as he pushed hands inside his pockets, hidden fingers itching his hips gingerly as he lazed about.  
Blank confusion appeared over Aesop's visible features as he inwardly tried to re-call the full meaning of the acronym the doctor applied to his mundane daily routine.

"Ah- I see.."

Not particularly keen for smiling, unable to shake off his tension to feign amusement at the doctor's jabs to the aged director, Aesop unknowingly mirrored DeRossi's posture vaguely, holding onto the crook of his own arm.

Looking down to the floor becoming lost in thought with rapidity.

"I suppose.. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Not allowing the perceptive doctor the chance to ask this doctor what, perhaps, was bothering him, Aesop looked up to the other's eyes quickly, alight with inquiry.  
"Would you mind very much if I asked you a personal question?" 

He would ask even if the doctor said yes, and just as quickly as he looked to the other's eyes he looked away, vaguely to the side at nothing in specific lest it distract him from his own conversation.  
The patient that pretended he was a doctor was often a nervous sort, he didn't take overly well to Luchino's own unconcerned nature and jokes but it wasn't often he took poorly to it, they just didn't have the same sensibilities, but seeing Aesop now, the man seemed especially anxious, it made Luchino half wonder if he was up to something he shouldn't be.

His answer to the question tossed back at him was also a touch suspicious, but he'd try and hold the patient in a better regard then that, chalking it up to his own misunderstanding of the body language.

Just as quickly as he gained suspicion, he lost it when Aesop brought up the chance of asking a personal question for the doctor, a man who often never got questions asked and even less so fancied answering them to a satisfying amount, but as always, he'd have no choice but to let curiosity humor the right-hand man,

"A personal question? Eh, I doubt it could be too personal,"

Luchino snickered at Aesop, thinking him too polite to go over any possibly boundaries or ask anything outrageous,

"Shoot."

Gesturing his head off to the side, the doctor had a long smile to go with the piqued humor.

"Why did you become a doctor? What motivates you?"

The other two wore their motivations on their sleeves, as far as Aesop discerned it. The inkblot tests weren't required to peer into their psyche and determine a concrete personality.  
Joseph was a sadist who suffers from a feeling of powerlessness.

Lapadura whom Aesop saw significantly less, suffers from being unrecognized, working hard and yielding no results, he wanted to do something extraordinary, which led him to extreme.  
This hospital and the patients inside were tools for the doctor's unique motivations.  
DeRossi, however, Aesop hadn't quite pinned.

As the patient asked the question, his itching persisted, so much so he unconsciously removed his hands from his pockets and tuck them behind his back, an unusual professional posture for the doctor to hold but it was for no show of appearance, he just continued to itch without thought,

"Why I became a doctor? Eh, I guess I wanted to do more science and also help more people. What about you, hm?"

Luchino prompted after his concise answer, already moving the subject along,

"I know you're not a real doctor but you show promise and want to become one, so what keeps you going?"

As he inquired, he kept at his pace with no real relent as to match with the annoying itching, the joints over his body had an increasing ache that he attempted to ignore.  
He showed no major symptoms of anything as he started his shift but even he noted suddenly, he felt to be in poor health, but a pallid complexion wasn't unusual over a ginger— he'd keep a steady face until on his own again, reluctant to let such a polite assistant and patient see him in a sorry state of things.

Expecting the result he had gotten but having found no real satisfied answer in it, Aesop only hummed in faux understanding.  
At the return inquiry, Aesop instantly bristled like a cat who had had it's tail yanked on, he stood straight up to face DeRossi and began his protest,

"I am a real doctor-" 

But he stopped, caught off guard.

Pointing gingerly to the doctor's arm, previous indignant form instantly reduced to his usual polite professionalism.

"Doctor, your arm is bleeding..?" 

A snide smile came over as his words bothered Aesop, a man very dedicated to his delusion with Luchino doing very little to assist with it, but one he needed to even remind himself was still in fact a delusion, but as the patient's attention derived very quickly from his fuss and onto himself, Luchino's prodding humor turned into confusion as he rubbed his fingers together after he heard the statement, feeling the slickness over his hand as he pulled away from behind his back and saw he was bleeding decently,

"..Huh..?"

Luchino couldn't muster a decent thought for a moment, cold sweats began as he was unable to discern when it began and why he didn't even feel it— he'd felt pain if he'd itched too much before but there was no warning for this and worse yet, he still felt itchy,

"Oh, that's no good.. Sorry Aesop— I'll ask someone to clean this up quickly.."

Ashamed, he grabbed onto his arm as he peered down the halls, not wanting to have any other see him or worse yet, see the blood he'd leave a trail of,

"Could I ask you to try and keep other's away? The blood will scare them..— I need to go make myself decent, sorry."

Uncharacteristically frantic sounding, Luchino began to jog off, blood dotted the floor for every other step he took as he struggled to take off his lab coat to wrap over his arm, though over his nape and past his hair was not a usual complexion but a darkening blueish area, it looked like a severe bruise as he turned around the corner, stopping the bloody trail with the coat and a janitor likely soon to follow in.  
Aesop's mouth opened underneath his mask to urge DeRossi wait, but he forgot how to speak, he couldn't process all that was happening quickly enough, before he could understand it, he was standing alone in the pharmacy, the only remaining DeRossi was specks of his blood that trailed out.

That was the last time anyone had seen the doctor DeRossi.


	3. Chapter 3

That was nearly weeks ago, the medical staff would not speak of DeRossi, and the patients learned swiftly it was better to avoid the subject.

Antonio however, was never placated. 

The staff would not tell him a thing. Luchino seemed to have vanished quite into thin air. If not for his memory, if not for the whispered name 'DeRossi', Antonio might have assumed he never existed to begin with.  
The proper thing to do, would be to rest plenty, focus on his 'cure', but he was not the kind to sit and behave. How he hated to do so, in fact.

His nurse, a becoming young woman, this was likely her first proper position of employment, she had ambition and energy that one only had fresh into a field.  
Eager as she was to prove herself competent and capable, she was also desperate for recognition.

As easily played as a violin in the expert fingers of Antonio. 

She grew very trusting of him, he displayed to her constantly a sort of charming weakness, he was not the insane, delusioned Satanist she had anticipated. 

He was cultured and polite, but seductive and sly. A song, and she was his.

In the wee hours during her routine 'check up' with the violinist, she left and had forgotten to lock the door behind her.

Antonio always fell right asleep, but this tryst had extended on a little longer than was routine, leaving her late and hasty.

As intended.

Antonio stood from his bed only a few moments after a feigned sleep, after she hastened away. The floor was cold, it was always so cold.  
The patient gown he was meant to wear did little to keep onto the little bit of warmth his own body produced. He tugged the blanket from his bed and wore it about his figure like a shawl.  
With an age old practiced art, Antonio turned the handle to his door, pushing it open with nary a creak.

The halls were dark, dimly lit every few steps by an electric light on the wall. It was terribly eerie, but Antonio was afraid of no ghost nor shadow person.

Creeping out, and closing the door just as quietly behind him, he began off, looking properly like a specter in his patient gown and sterile, thin white blanket shawl, the lengths of his black hair obscuring his face, save for the prominent nose.

There must be records, files of some kind regarding Luchino. What happened to him, where he went.   
During their time together, she, his nurse, was far too preoccupied, her garments all aside, Antonio's hands, lengthy and flexible, her own sounds covered up the noise of a key being gently taken from it's companions.

Intense sense of hearing keen to any sound to keep him privy to the threat of discovery-- If he was caught by an orderly now, God knows what they would do to him, without Luchino's protection.  
Using the magical item that was the key, Antonio slipped from the patient ward.

He did not need to use his eyes to scan for risk, the violinist progressed, as hasty as he was capable. Various offices belonging to medical staff members, on the doors he could read the director's name, the hypnotists, a few others he was unfamiliar with. Luchino's was no where to be seen.

What happened to you? Where did you go? Why did you leave me?

Activity from inside one of the offices, Desaulniers', the door handing threatening his exit whilst he mundanely went about his evening routine work.

Panicked, he looked about the doors again to try and spy an escape from discovery. 

The basement seemed the only promising one, the other offices would no doubt be locked with unique keys held only by their keepers.  
Loath as Antonio was to seek shelter where it would be dank, dark, and cold, he could not be discovered.  
Hastily, he inserted the key into the basement's locked door, and it clicked open.   
He slid in and went about descending staircase now.

It was dark, illuminated by energy-saving, dark red lights. It looked hellish, but Antonio remained unconcerned with the eeriness.   
He could not stand by the stairs and doorway that he fled in from, he would risk being caught.  
Looking about, it hardly looked like a basement. It appeared to Antonio's eyes almost as though a different, abandoned patient ward. There were rooms, corridors not unlike the sort he wandered during the daytime.

Fixing his blanket-shawl onto himself desperately, in vain, trying to ward off the chill, his bare feet slid across the floor, keen to the sounds illuminating the nature of this underground.

How pitiful he felt, lost beneath the hospital which held him prisoner.  
Body perpetually trembled as it fought off the cold.  
His eyes closed as he progressed at a glacial speed, becoming sluggish and numb.  
Down in the nightmarish basement, cobwebs decorated every corner and the floor was decorated by old stains of different shades of black, their substance left to the imagination and left alone so long, the smell had long since warn save for the vague scent of blood and other subtle, odd odors.  
Lodged into the door plates were various numbers of no correlation, jumping from door 119 to 354 with no warning and yet the scrapes of the door plates would indicate there was once a story behind every number walked by, the further down the ghastly man would walk, the more ominous the surroundings would become.

In front of two feet illuminated dimly by the red light, there were large scrapes in the cement floor— slashes that dug half an inch deep in, near it were odd shapes flakes over the floor along with scattered splinters of what appeared to be glass under the poor light.

Down further in the hall, the lights failed; destroyed by something rather then just burnt out, but there was no evidence of trashed glass over the floor ahead, just complete silence of light and life.  
Every sight before the lights went out showed evidence of violence, as though a wild monster tried to escape and kill anything surrounding, perhaps it held disease which is why the ward was kept closed?  
It wasn't anything of the sort, Luchino knew this much.  
Every scratch, crack, stain of blood, shattered ornament, scale and bludgeoned light and door was his doing, that way after a point, the only one who could see was himself.

Hardly ever asleep, Luchino kept alert day round, uncertain of when it was day or night, he was never made certain as to when the other's would visit to do whatever vile research they wanted, though Luchino didn't like to go out without a fight, taking any moment to try and hurt them and escape before they could drop who knew how much morphine to keep him down.  
Whatever experiments they were using him for, Luchino couldn't have been sure if it was working or not.

Nothing was ever shared to him, for the use of his blood, ferocity, scales, crystals and anything else they could extract, they both kept him from anything gained if there was anything to be had, the only things he was told were dull insults from Joseph and once, an apology from Lapadura, but otherwise the man griped and yelled at Luchino to stop being bothersome— neither or them had even shared as to why this happened and when they did it, all he knew is that it happened, it hurt and now he felt invisible and furious.

A tongue slid out of his mouth and when it came back in, he picked up a different, unfamiliar smell, news that encouraged him to lift his body up slow and steady, a tail brushing against the floor as his imagination jumped to the worst— a specialist to help them experiment would be his first assumption, but that would also mean it was an inexperienced staff member, no amount of preparation could allow anyone to keep face when seeing a giant lizard attempt to bite their head off and sickeningly if all went well, he'd succeed in biting off their head.

A further distance away, a heavy scraping sound was heard against the floor, sound traveled well down the hall littered with locked up doors, recently reinforced as Crystalline grew bigger and sharper then expected.  
Haunted corridors took on a far more monstrous appearance as a foreign, far off sound was detected.  
There was something down here.  
Antonio would not be able to begin trying to deduce the nature of the sound. It was organic, it moved as though a living thing, but it was.. Metallic nearly, the sounds were scraping but coordinated. It was looking for him.  
His cold was chased away now by an adrenaline that prompted him to move with a little more urgency that could not be achieved whilst feeling half frozen to death.  
Trying to reason how he was detected, it surely could not have been sound, Antonio was capable of an intense silence no one would presume a musician of his caliber capable.   
Smell.  
It could only be that.  
But he had hardly time to wander about the entirety of the halls, what manner of monster would be able to detect so subtle a scent?

Antonio had no real know-how in such fields to even begin to guess.

He could hear the direction he was pursued from, although it placed him further from the place he descended from into this haunted ward, further from where he might flee for his life, it might put ground between the monster and he to flee the opposite direction.   
His own clever sense of hearing, he hoped, would give him an edge over the monster's superior sense of smell.

His body coated with a cold sweat, his inhaled breaths stung his lungs like ice and forced his exhales out in a quiet near wheeze.

Dropping his white blanket shawl, in a hope to distract the monster's sense of smell, propping now two sources of his scent about.

Knowing his limits, he could not force himself even further. He was very familiar with how it felt to push himself far beyond his limits. Many concerts ending with a bow in a rushed fashion and fleeing from the stage to vomit in relative privacy, or to simply faint. 

He ducked into an adjacent cell-- Properly looking like a jail cell, albiet.. A deteriorated and destroyed one.  
Antonio slid down a wall into and onto the filthy ground, pulling in his length in hiding.

The wall which at one time separated two near cells had been destroyed as though by an explosion, leaving two opened doorways.  
Perhaps the concentrated scent from his discarded blanket-shawl would lead the creature off, presuming it's quarry elsewhere. 

Lungs tickled and ached with exertion, a cough bubbled up and the sickly man covered his mouth with a palm to try and prevent it with vacuum force.  
His coughs were a persistent illness of his, he could never quell them and often suffered them alongside a variety of other symptoms.  
Each cough he suppressed came back stronger, doing damage.

His coughs came out rapidly now, tears followed the exertion and his throat was raw and dry, entire chest heaving with the effort to try and grasp a breath between the coughs.  
Dust and grime only aided in the violence of his coughing fit, Antonio fell over forward with the effort, retching.

Persistently his tongue touched the ground as he began crawling, keeping on all fours as he crept from the furthest corridor he was kept to, first kept chained to but it didn't take long for him to grow enough to be able to pull them from the wall.

Claws as sharp as glass and long as sickles tapped against the floor, a pure sound came from all his movements as he delicately traversed, trying to discern the type of person the closer he came down the halls with a neat, slow pace.

If Luchino sat down to think for even a moment, he would find it odd they'd send a stranger down without themselves following— but he was beyond thinking at this point, there was no one or nothing waiting for him outside of this crypt but even so, he desired escape violently and intended to get that even if it meant killing someone or more in the process of getting out.

In his size, it didn't take the basilisk long to emerge from the pitch black he'd created, being able to as far as he had without any company seen; only smelled, Luchino raised onto his legs as much as he could in the cramped hall and gripped the light bulb, crushing it under his hand as he passed by.

Every step that clinked into the ground was followed by the sound of glass crunching and metal snapping as he made it dark enough to his taste, but as he approached the blanket onto the floor, he drooped onto fours as he let his new, most useful asset taste-test the blanket, a very new addition to the arena but by no means was it warm.

Flickering in and out, Luchino had a difficult time discerning the source, but as soon as he moved his head around, he was able to pick up the direction, opening his mouth in the excitement of pursuit, a steady hiss left from his throat as he pushed the blanket away.

Returning to breaking the lights, his tongue pressed in and out as he came closer and closer, first beginning to smell new odors, he then began to hear someone, but Luchino was being given a strange amount of play time.

Biding his precious time wisely, Luchino knowingly stepped by the doorways he knew held the prey, sniveling and coughing, truly in a pitiful state by the sounds of it.  
Working ahead, every step ahead was black and every step after was black— Luchino was now the only one who could see.

Back on his fours, Luchino crept down the halls and as the claws tapped, he came closer and closer to where he knew the body was at and carefully, delicately shifted his body through the door, the same very sound of his tail from earlier scraped against the floor as he placed himself around the man's shriveled body, ensuring there was no safe escape attempt for the body.

A tongue touched the tip of the floor as Luchino lowered his head closer to the body, a heavy hiss left his mouth as he wrapped a lethal set of claws over the neck in a threat, keeping the man in a completely still place,

"Stop your sniveling you little runt and tell me why you're here."

Luchino asked him, his words pronounced with a near lisp as he still adjusted to the new mouth to speak with,

"I'll eat you whole if you don't tell me soon, and then? I'll kill everyone else you know just for the fun of it."

Interrogating with a unique sadistic pleasure, Luchino wouldn't deny his curiosity with just how much damage he could do with his body, eager to make all those who turned him this way pay with their blood in equal amounts they'd drained him of his own.

Wretched of a state as things were in, Antonio's hearing did not fault, the impending approach of the creature that was not even slightly thrown off by his attempt of leaving a distraction out in the open was not disguised nor misunderstood.

There were so many sounds they nearly created a din, this monster was intelligent, it was darkening the halls even further, destroying the bulbs that provided at least a little illumination. It was on all four, it had a tail, claws which sounded like glass against the floor..

A layperson might think a demon straight from Hell, but Antonio was certain that was not what it was.  
It might have reassured him somewhat were that simply it.

There were purely organic sounds among the glassy sharp ones which seemed to drag and tap against the floors and wall with a chaotic melody.   
Far too quickly he was cornered. His coughing fit had settled so it was no longer incessant, but he was by no means in a pleasant way. 

His desire to live was dire. He wanted very much to live, he did not want to die, he did not want to be killed.

What manner of creature seemed to fill the destroyed cells Antonio could not discern, but he could hear it was massive, and he could feel it's eyes on him. 

It sounded nearly beautiful, in the same way a whirlpool was beautiful, a vast and scorching desert, the wide jaw of a shark, beautiful in a terrifying manner which would prompt an individual to weep before it.   
The height he aspired his music to reach, a muse entrapped him. It hissed and fortified, Antonio did not begin to sob or plea, he fell quiet as he expected to simply be torn to pieces in the dark by the glassy monster which hunted him with skill.

When it hissed threats to him, spoke, Antonio's head lifted though he could not see, his own gaze followed to where he felt the predatory stare of the hunter.

It was threatening and sharp, an orchestrated piece of rattle snake rattles  
and hisses, all of the patience and hunger of a Komodo dragon, the ferocity of creatures from an ancient and deadly world, disguised in glass and sharpness. Antonio wished he could but see it.   
The voice of this creature however impending, had a breadth of a warmth of familiarity.   
Antonio replied.

"I, think that I am looking for you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> co-author: Luchino kills and kinda eats a fellow in this one, it's not lengthy or insanely graphic but if you're squeamish, pls note

Luchino's breath shuddered into a laughter as he lowered his head down to the floor, trying to get a better look at the body he kept locked under his claws, though the locks of hair kept the expression of terror hidden much to the reptiles disappointment.  
His empty hand tapped eagerly against the floor in excitement for a reason to hurt someone, to regain himself and his dignity by dismembering a possible accomplice to his demise, a death certificate had no doubt been forged since being tossed in his cell here.

But in a moment of pure confusion, the man replied with a familiar voice, rasped and hurt, but one Luchino could not yet figure.  
In his moment of hesitation, his grip over the man's neck loosened, a renewed curiosity flickered out from his mouth, tapping against the very top of the man's head.  
It reeked of familiarity but Luchino's smell was never so amazing previously, he couldn't tell who it was, all he knew it that it was someone he knew,

"Yeah, no shit. There's nothing else down here except for me! I made sure of that..!"

He insulted the man, grouching at him followed by a growl of breath,

Regaining a closed grip around the man's neck, he had become hesitant to truly harm the man if it was someone he knew that wasn't one of the two doctors that would pay him frequent visitation.  
Unwilling to let himself yell at the once-was-stranger in risk of being heard, Luchino removed his hand from around the neck and lowered his hand down the other's body, carefully wringing his claws underneath and around the body until he could safely hold the torso in his grasp as he slowly lifted himself onto two legs, hunched heavily in the room.

With no effort given, Luchino was able to lift the man's body up and press it against the wall, moving his claws with meticulous care not the puncture the body as he pinned him up for inspection.  
Using his idle hand, the tip of his claw ticked against the wall behind the other as a warning of sort,

"If you move even an inch, you will be bled out like an animal.."

Luchino whispered a warning to the man as he used the delicate instrument to remove the hair from the other's face, a tongue flicked out against his sternum as he made out the other through the intense shroud, still a dim lighting even for himself.

Seeing the man's face properly, Luchino pulled his hand away from the face he'd previously found himself infatuated with even against all better morals.  
But now?

"Anton—..?"

Luchino muttered as he loosened his grip around his patient's body, able to set the man back on his feet,

"No.. No..! Why are you here?!"

Panic mixed with humiliation, Luchino backed away with far less the grace he entered to corridor with, sharp thuds of thick sounding glass hitting the wall behind them,

"I can't have you see me like this..! Get away!"

Hissing, Luchino stomped a foot against floor as he tried to threaten Paganini into leaving him, even if he would dearly love to be in the man's company again, Luchino held himself at so much fault and flaw, he wouldn't dare ask his patient to stick around him much longer as he'd already threatened to kill the man several times in his lack of identifying him previously— God, how stupid he was to forget,

"Get away right now! I don't want you near me!"

His words were hostile as he tried to get away from his patient, but his tone was struggling to keep with anger and fear he wanted to inflict against Antonio, unable to find himself able to hurt, maim or cause a true emotional pain to the delicate violinist.  
Death has an icy cool grip, that is what poets and storytellers have always described what it surely felt like to be seized by what would end one's feeble life.  
Antonio would agree with a chill always being a most hated thing to him, likening it to death. Each sick bed he lay in morbidly curious if it was to be his last he would re-call nearly always feeling a chill despite layers of blankets and sweaters about him.

The hissed threat though sounded like the hiss of an icy wind in a dark winter storm, the breath that came of it was hot like steam. Still, the threat was unnecessary, the violinist was nearly limp out of his will.  
Crystal-glass like forms adorned the claws he could feel wrap about his throat, his rapid pulse roaring in his own ears.  
His life was a delicate thing in the sharp grip of the creature, although knowing this Antonio did not feel fear, he felt himself smiling.

The minute movement of the crystalline creature moving it's grip prompted an involuntary noise from the victim in it's vice.  
Antonio's head was filled with a vague sort of chaos. Every scrape against the floor the crystals on the creature produced, a myriad of interesting and reptilians sounding growls and vibrations came from the depth of the creature.  
His feet no longer touched the ground but what little weight he had did not pull him uncomfortably, the creature held him in a threatening support.

Every reason stood that he should feel colder than death itself, and yet, Antonio's body burned with heat over the circumference of the grip of whom's mercy he was limply held captive in.

Realization struck for the creature, and the same chord was struck to the violinist, he knew it in his heart to be so.  
Returned to the ground and released from the deadly cage that was now Luchino's be-clawed and bejeweled hand, Antonio's knees buckled suddenly trying to support the rest of him once again.

"Luchino, it is you.."

No trace of fear. Fatigue perhaps, but an undisguised excitement and longing, a sort of bliss without any shame.  
Wincing at the far less deliberate thrashing of his strange, massive and coated body in the small confinement of the destroyed cell Antonio was startled by the doctor's outrage.

To hear the voice he missed so urge him away, frighten him with a raised loudness that felt far sharper than the earlier claws that wrapped about his easily destroyed form.  
But he would not flee even as instincts begged him to do so as well.  
Against his own colleagues, Luchino bent strict rules more than several times for the comfort of the celebrity violinist. Extra blankets, particular sort of treats, allowing him to skip meals if confident it would make him unwell, or otherwise providing a stolen alternative that was less likely to disturb his stomach.  
He has only brought him comfort and delight. It was Luchino that protected him and cared for him, he could not flee from him. Antonio knew he was not in any danger.

"I have missed you so.." 

It had been weeks. The hospital tried to erase his existence. Antonio had in mind to locate some files that proved he was here, that perhaps explained where he went. They had done something to him-- He was beneath them the entire time..

"Please, do not leave me alone again."

His smile was in his voice, hopeful and close to that of a plea.  
On all his limbs, Luchino hadn't the proper coordination to leave the narrow passage as he tried to keep himself far from Antonio, idiot of a man that he was, approached with little hesitation,

"I'm not who you knew! Get away!"

Hissing again with a raised back, there was little more he could do that he hadn't already done that could scare off the patient, anything more would involve needing to harm the man and even then, Luchino wasn't sure if such a display would work to ward him off,

"I'm hideous! That human you knew is no longer! DeRossi is dead, Antonio..! Dead!"

Finally gathering his surroundings past the shock of seeing the violinist, Luchino began to crawl backwards to make way out of the room, though it didn't do well to sneak as his brain compiled the chemicals of his vile emotions and began to mix with the rest of the astounding body.  
From the base of his spine and the knuckle of his claws, a dim glow began to give illumination over the massive, reptillian body, from head to tail his appearance had been given silhouette and color, decorated with crystals grown over his back with no pattern of where they emerged from, claws made from the same material and filed into a fine weapon and a tail, long and slender with the same crystalline growth around the tip of the tail.  
Though he cursed the chemicals, he'd have no choice but to try and use the illumination to his advantage,

"You see? I look horrible! There is nothing left for you here— go away!"

Stomping his foot against the floor in purpose, the hind claws scraped against the cement in a fast, shrill sound to ward off the patient with a delicate ear, a hearing like none other Luchino had ever seen,

"You will find another doctor! Just leave me alone..!"

For all the endless threats and yelling, Luchino made no moves forward, only backward.  
Dead.

Antonio hadn't quite lost anyone who's loss he grieved deeply. When his father passed, he hadn't bothered to return home for his funeral.  
All other's he knew were as far as their last correspondences, alive and well.  
But he wasn't a complete stranger to death. 

It was different, accented with a hiss and lisp, punctuated by a variety of low and quiet growls and clicks, but it was undoubtingly Luchino's voice.  
For the creature's fury, he did not bite, he earlier had lifted the frail man with such caution as to not cause even a minute scratch. 

He was surely Luchino. He was surely alive. He was here, he was not dead.

Following the crashing cymbals of sound Luchino produced as he edged his way, carefully Antonio knew, from the destroyed cell, he followed of course, the slight inhale to produce a protest to Luchino only produced a weak few coughs as his body remained in protest of the condition of air about this labyrinth that Luchino was prisoner in. Like Minotaur from myth.  
Dream-like, like a cave illuminated with glowing gemstones did the figure of Luchino reveal itself.  
Raising himself from a feeble posture, Antonio stared, utterly awe struck. From his own face he removed his hair which cascaded down and covered his vision most usually to allow himself the complete view of the creature before him.

Reptilian in form, but human still.. Clothed roughly in his lab-coat. His eyes were alight like fire, bight orange in the hardly illuminated dark, like a constellation that moved about the inky dark sky it called home.  
His own eyes were not very often allowed to take in light utterly-- Antonio's shyness regarding his ill-regarded face prompted him to allow his hair to obscure it. It caused the vision to widen his eyes further, unused to taking in such sight.  
Carefully Antonio stepped forward as Luchino retreated back.  
Luchino was certainly the most beautiful thing the violinist had seen.  
The audio assault instantly collapsed the maestro who screeched with pain, gripping onto his ears to protect them. The lengthy ring of tinnitus trapped inside his head which desperately worked to recover from the stun. Antonio whined with reverberated pain, knelt on the floor once again, his limbs askew and the chill which his patient gown did next to nothing to ward off began steadily to return.

"No, no," Antonio tried again, hardly able to hear his own voice in his head, still echoing with a shrill ring.

He rubbed hard into his ears to hurry his head along recovering.  
With his head lulled forward even only for a moment Antonio's hair fell to his face once again, only a few locks remained tucked behind his ears as he had.

"How has this happened..?"

Voice nearly delirious, he smiled again.

"Did an envious goddess curse you?"  
Thinking of Medusa.

A small and hallow sounding giggle.  
Backing away further and further into his previous retreat for every movement he steadily could, Luchino kept low to the ground as he leered at Antonio, who didn't allow himself much time to be deterred by the terrible sounds the reptillian knew he could now make, enabling him to attack Antonio without touching a single claw to his fragile body,

"There's nothing mystical or grand about this; there is nothing to be envied!"

Biting back at his patient's quip, his tail rattled with his own emotions as he kept going back into the dark, his claws fit perfectly into the slashes in the ground discovered earlier under the now broken lights, guided by the crystals over his body,

"I was turned into a monster and an experiment without any reason! I was too trusting and now look at me!"

Yelling at his patient, his tail slammed into the floor behind him with only a few splinters coming off, showcasing destructive durability,

"I can't come out of here, I look truly horrible."

Anger gave way to a sharp tinge of hurt as he cursed himself for his personality and to match perfectly now, his appearance brought more anguish then he'd ever think possible,

"There is no way for a human to live down here and no way for a monster like me to live up there! You leave! Go!"

Banishing the feeling of weakness with more anger, he lurched and hissed loudly, bearing his mouth decorated front and back with teeth that would pierce near any surface he could fit his mouth around— plentiful objects as he showcased his intimidation, creeping further back.

Noticing the opened doorway, an orderly poked his head inside the doorway, intimidated by the immense dark that overcame beyond the final few lights remaining at the very base of the stairwell into the basement.

Armed with a flashlight however, he would not allow himself to be stopped there as he began descending to inspect the sounds coming from below, expecting rascally Houdini patient's to be below causing a ruckus among each other.

Thematically speaking it was a common happening in old Greek mythos. Antonio was in a fit of quiet giggles even after Luchino's seething retort.  
It was because, you see, it was far too easy to picture a deity becoming envious of Luchino's plentiful charms and intelligence. His good looks as well, Antonio would certainly say, were a fair thing to envy.  
To tear a man down from grace, the envious deity would turn him into a monster and throw him to wander down here.  
It was perfectly mythological, Antonio thought it grand in some way.

Amusement retracted with another pained screech at the crash of a lethal, club-like and crystal lined tail into the ground, hands returned to his ears in the lame attempt to block out the reverberations and soothe the tinnitus again.  
How pitiful it was.  
For all of his prior amusement, Antonio was horrified.

Luchino was young-- Sly man that he was he would never specify how young. Luchino was a prodigy grown, Antonio could recognize that being such a person himself.  
Such ambitions the doctor possessed, such hopes and goals. It was one of the things Antonio most adored about him.  
He could not tell Luchino he was wrong-- A creature such as himself could not leave, he would be reviled, killed. His life was more or less over, it wasn't entirely inaccurate that the creature announced himself dead.

"Oh, please," Antonio groaned, fingers massaging into his head.

"Please, do not make such noise, I cannot bear it."

He could hear the pull of the reptilian's lips, the way he lisped just slightly. It was a mouth full of teeth, hands adorned with terrible claws, a massive figure gaunt and swift. His body was well suited for killing now. Despite that, his touch was delicate as always.

"Oh, crap." 

The nurse had finished the remainder of her nightly duties, in the midst of un-dressing from her nurse gown to her mundane clothes, she had noticed a rather important object amiss. From the keyring lent to her by the hypnotist as her own was still being created, a key was missing.  
A worn, brassy kind, visibly older than the other more modern keys that decorated the ring.  
She had asked Desaulniers for what was the key intended.

"To the basement." He had said.  
"It was a ward for especially dangerous patients a long time ago, but it's no longer used." He added to the attentive nurse in explanation.

His voice was accented with a detectable but slight French, it was utterly charming, and his mannerisms as well were polite. 

"You mustn't go down there, a sort of mold has begun to grow and it's quite toxic, so please refrain, and,"

His laidback attitude suddenly shifted, his tone was darker.

"Return these keys to my office at the end of your shift."

The hypnotist had quite stressed that.. Re-tracing her steps, where could she have lost them..? Every patient had been either asleep, or restrained..  
Except for--  
"Oooh, crap."

As what nearly was expected, nothing of Luchino's appeal or his new found ability to hiss and cause terror simply through his throat alone did anything to make Antonio relent, instead the same things as ever affected the man; sounds of unharmonious strain, screeches, rakes and bangs.

Against his own wants for the violinist's safety from himself, Luchino couldn't get rid of the want to be with a friend of any kind, but it being Antonio was a deep, bloody thorn in his heart that he could not easily pull out, touched by the lack of hesitation the man felt toward the once admired, now monstrous doctor DeRossi,

"If you want it to stop, you should leave..!"

He spit, frustrated at the passive stubbornness of the patient,

"You are freezing cold, you need to go back to your bed and behave! They'll take away your violin and I won't be able to get it back."

Trying to reason with the man on terms like they were used to, Antonio's lack of reaction began to reflect on Luchino as he lowered his body, the posture a more relaxed tension, but otherwise his hissing and growling finally ceased, as did the retreating steps from his patient,

"I can't warm you. My blood is cold and my body will hurt you— you're a frail little man, there is nothing for you to gain in my company still."

Huffing, he raised himself to sit in a squat and when doing so, it made the difference between their body undeniably blatant.

Compared to his own body, Antonio's figure could barely match to Luchino's now, his torso was nearly the size of Antonio's whole body, the comparison was hardly fair to begin with but now it was nearly comical to see how small the other appeared in his eyes now.

Refamiliarizing himself now that he felt a semblance of peace, a tongue slid out to the top of Antonio's head and went back in, giving Luchino due reminder not to let himself forget his smell ever again or his flavor, but that wasn't the only thing he picked up..  
Lifting his head up to peer down the hall, his tongue persisted as he tried to single out the different smell wafting down to the basement from above, instantly reigniting a hostile nervousness,

"..Someone's here.."

He whispered, backing down onto the floor once again as he stared down the pitch black hall, seeing near the end that there was a small, white light jumping up and down as it approached in it's leisure.

With a low hiss, all his attention was redirected to the light source, something Antonio distinctly lacked when he came in which worked in Luchino's favor.  
But this personnel was prepared and robbed Luchino of his hiding places, any element of surprise would be ruined by a flashlight and that was not a risk he was willing to play with as he kept his place, hind legs raised in a pouncing stance as his tongue bounced in and out, his breathing steadied significantly as he placed one ornamental hand forward.

Down the hall, the orderly heard the talking stop for a moment, sure of what he'd found more or less, but he saw in the lessening distance that there was an odd glow..?  
The loonies were pretty unique in the ability to pocket items and make odd use of them, but he was sure whoever they were, they were likely harmless. For better and for worse, the hospital doctors were pretty good about keeping the patients quiet, passive and submissive.

What bliss.  
To hear once again Luchino's fussy demands, to argue with him like this again. Even the mention of the other was infuriating violin incident from so long ago brought him such happiness, his beloved doctor urging him as always to behave and return to bed.  
Antonio was as cursed with optimism as he was with the ability to catch every illness he wafted by, he felt Luchino was some place, he was not dead. But he wondered if it was that silly optimism and little else, the tear between the two is what prompted him to take an action, to seek out answers for himself.

And he found it. Him.

Unfazed by the massive, crystalline reptilian creature which was before him, a delicate tongue snaking in and out of his mouth was a distinct sound.  
That was how he was on the violinist so quickly. Various reptiles, Luchino himself had once taught Antonio in idle conversation, had incredibly well developed senses of smell, they used their tongues to pick up on scents.  
Antonio grinned again, still weak but bashful. Luchino was smelling him.  
How beautiful Luchino's form was.  
Pragmatically Antonio could see it's accursed nature, but even still.. When not producing a painful percussion, the tail was utterly terrific, lengthy and waved delicately like a feline's, adorned with crystal formations that glowed dimly. The scales that covered his form a pale, icy blue. The claws which pinned Antonio to the wall only a moment prior, lethal in appearance alone and yet his whimsical self did not dislike the way it had felt.

Admiration and curiosity cut short, Luchino announced an interloper. Antonio had not even heard--  
Turning his own head to follow the direction Luchino stared down into, the presence of his beloved doctor returning to the feral creature which stalked he himself earlier.

Now he became fearful. Of what the usually peaceful doctor was capable of, of his own fate, of the nature of the stranger.

"Luchino..?"

As the man stepped nonchalant down the once locked hallway, he assumed nothing terrible in the basement outside of his own human concern of being shrouded in darkness in such an abandoned area, but it would be worse yet if a couple of patients managed to lock themselves down and away.

Listening to the rhythmic stepping, Luchino's breathing shuddered as the figure kept coming closer and closer, a toe tapped clearly against the floor as his excitement grew, excitement and fear of equal measures as he took another paced step forward, perfecting his posture as his mouth inched open with the light growing closer and closer. 

Raising the flashlight up to his shoulder as the man approached the odd glow, he tried to peer forward beyond his stark light against the dark to make out the faces ahead, half expecting to see that 'doctor' acting patient and some of his cronies making some escape attempt like it was rumored,

"Hey! I doubt you're supposed to be down here. Stop acting up and come get to bed."

The man finally spoke and as he raised his voice to yell at the pair he had yet to see, Luchino inhaled and held his breath, a tail swaying eagerly as he was seconds off from the perfect strike,

"Aren't you guys nervous to be down here? You can't see anything.. Any.. Thing..?"

As he spoke, their images finally became clear to the staff's eyes, his casual approach faded into a delusional confusion and fear as he set eyes up the giant reptile that stared right back at him,

"Ah.. Ah..."

The man's speech failed as stood paralyzed, shaking his head in disbelief to the massive dinosaur ahead, he couldn't even discern the ghostly man that stood by.

Slipping from his shaking hand, the flashlight slip from his fingers and onto the floor, making a nondescript sound that set the basilisk into motion.

Leaping forward with talons set forward in front of his body, his claws dug immediately into the man who found his voice to scream as soon as the creature pounced forward, puncturing through his abdomen in a clean motion, his thumb cleared through the ribcage as he then pressed the body onto the ground, a body already mutilated yet still could scream.  
Leaning in, Luchino snapped his mouth around the orderly's neck and bite it off, clearing the sound completely as he swallowed.

In comparison to his massive mouth, the bite he took from the body left a massive dent, having swallowed the chin, neck and down to the sternum with one movement, but he didn't yet stop.

The death happened in just over a second, the man was found, he screamed and was dead within moments of discovery, but his body wouldn't be wasted by the reptile as he bit down onto the shoulders and lifted the rest of the body up, munching and allowing gravity to do the work for him as he swallowed the rest of the gory body down, never minding the clothes and whatever else accessorized the staff— all of it was food for him.

The body made him feel replenished in seconds as it finished down his throat, a rejuvenation he wasn't aware he needed as the tongue flickered in and out in an effort to clean his face of any possible leftovers.  
Under his foot, Luchino glared at the flashlight that fell to the floor and with no hesitation, he shattered it as with every other light that decorated his personal cavern.

Sighing with an only somewhat satisfied appetite, the local smell reminded Luchino that there was still company near, company that shouldn't have had to witness the murder and 'cannibalism' Luchino just set about, though appearing as a monster, he wouldn't have to carry the guilt of murder of a 'fellow' man.

Turning his body around, a tail scraped gently against the floor as he looked to Antonio, his expression gloomy as he unwittingly proved the point of being inhuman to his patient.  
There were no words he could offer to the poor man— what was there to say? Apologize for eating a person? 

The pathetic frustration was an emotion Luchino was well acquainted with but never could he handle it better as a shame settled deep in his heart, having caused a disappointed and fear in someone he adored.  
Settling himself down, Luchino sat still for a moment as he eased into a resting position, a tail wrapped around his own body as he settled hands underneath his chest.

Approaching with a dutiful caution did the orderly, Antonio only watched mutely in a paralyzed tension from behind Luchino.  
It was by how the man's footsteps sounded that he was recognized-- The violinist's English never quite proficient enough, nor was he motivated enough, to engage in small-talk with the majority of staff members, a trait of his diva-like temperament as it were. 

He certainly did not seem a bad man, is what Antonio thought to himself not long after Luchino pounced with a ferocity he had only heard of in animals, large predatory kinds.  
His head filled with the pained screams of the man, and the patient did not move, only vaguely re-calling the polite bowed heads they gave one another in passing. Was this the same orderly who was left to clean up after Antonio's own last fit thrown over the snatched violin?  
Maybe..  
Maybe it was, is what he thought now, the sound of wet blood splashing onto the floor in a large quantity etching itself into his head like a vinyl record's grooves. 

Now a mangled corpse on the floor, in the same way his beloved doctor from that day as well was a carnivorous creature which loomed above the body, taking nutrients from it.  
The smell hit Antonio though he was not known for having a keen sense of it, it became overwhelming. He retched again, though he covered his mouth with a palm in the attempt to prevent escape, bile from his empty stomach forced it's way passed his closed fingers.

The glaring source of light was destroyed underneath the massive foot of Luchino, in the brief moment Antonio was able to look at it more clearly, the shape of the reptile's leg. He could likely jump very high, Antonio dully thought, and run very fast.

Wanting to stand but knowing himself unable, he raised his gaze from the corpse to it's assailant. He twisted his now filthy fist into his gown as means of cleaning it.  
Luchino remained alight with the glow, but it was stained here and there with the dark and sticky substance.

A hasty knock on the office door drew the hypnotist's attention up from the document he was in the process of officiating. At this late hour, and it seemed urgent..  
He stood to address it, but when he opened the door he was greeted by one of their newer members of the nursing staff. A pleasant enough young woman, here to return the key ring he lent.

She informed him rather, clearly guilty and afraid, that she had lost the key to the basement that was on the ring. Joseph quirked a brow as he was instantly prepared for the worst that could insinuate.

"Where did you have it last?" He asked, although his tone was tranquil enough, it hid layers of severity.

"I was assisting a patient." She answered, strangely sheepish. 

"Who?" Fearing to hear Aesop's name. A notorious conniver, and far braver and stupid than Joseph had originally accredited him to.

"Paganini."

Joseph blinked. He has been especially incapacitated since a new caretaker was assigned to him. He was also one only to cause trouble if his unreasonable demands were not met, but it seemed unlikely he would do anything large scale..

"How did-" Joseph began to ask, stressed, but opted not to finish his question.

It wasn't difficult to come to conclusion how this lovely young thing managed to get turned about and pick-pocketed in the room of the notorious Italian pervert.

"Never mind." Judgement withheld, "I will go retrieve it from him, you go home." 

Wasting no further moments to deal with her flustered excuses or attempts to explain the nature of her visit to Paganini, Joseph was off swiftly.  
Scolding himself for not anticipating any sort of problem from the depressed love fool that Paganini was, Joseph could only now see how blind he had been.  
Surely enough, when Joseph arrived to the violinist's room, it was empty, the bed bare.  
He cursed and turned so quickly his white coat billowed about him like the wings of a raptor.


	5. Chapter 5

Luchino looked down at the ill man, still cold to the bone, littered with the smell of someone else's blood around his body, sweat, dust and now his weak stomach rejecting the sight he was just shown.  
Carefully as he had held the man earlier, the doctor reached a decorated arm out to his patient, wrapping a single claw around his body to ease him closer by force,

"...Antonio.."

Luchino tried to start, his words of comfort still at a loss but there was at least one thing he could try and say to soothe the violinist,

"I can't do anything like that to you.. I.."

The words almost left his mouth, Luchino wouldn't be sure how long he could have Antonio in his company, there was nothing linear about the situation, it could've been the last he'd ever see the violinist in his renewed immortal life but even so, he still couldn't say what was at the tip of the forked tongue before relieving a reluctant sigh,

"You're too important to me.. I couldn't hurt my patients, especially not you."

Encircling the man's body with both sets of talons, Luchino lowered his head to rest upon his arm, keeping his face close to Antonio's body, though it was still decorated with spits of blood from his outburst of hungry violence.

In heavy contrast to his own body, Antonio's still felt warmer against his scaled surface, not nearly as soft as skin nor as delicate to break, he was nearly impervious to any damage he'd sustain during experimentation, then next to him was the violinist who'd get sick if the temperature was anything less then warm and he remained sick for weeks and would often get sick with a new illness whilst the previous one still occupied his body, frankly it was miracle upon miracle that the man hadn't yet perished due to his heavily compromised immune system, but even so he found himself thankful to care for the patient that would better belong in a regular hospital.

From low in his throat there came a hushed chortling as he kept close to Antonio's side, inviting the man closer to his jagged, crystalized body still aglow with the chemical reactions within his body in an effort to assure the messy patient.

Unafraid, he hadn't been afraid from the moment he discerned the nature of the creature that had pursued him, cornered him without expending any effort. Luchino would never hurt him, he put absolute faith in this no matter what he had just seen, no matter the warmest thing he felt against himself now was the still cooling blood from a man who was alive only moments ago, a mess over icy colored scales and crystals that adorned his doctor.

They had cursed him.

Luchino was kinder than anyone Antonio had known. His patients adored and relied on him for protection from the staff who did not treat them with half of the respect and gentleness he did.  
Luchino worked tirelessly for other's sake, and what have they done to him? He has killed, and Antonio suspected this was not the first.

How cruel. How cruel, the weak man thought repeatedly, to turn someone so kind into a creature that kills.

But it was still Luchino. Different, but at the core of the crystallized creature, Luchino.

Embraced wholly now by hardened edges and no warmth by a massive form able to endure intense attack, able to tear a person apart. Antonio found shelter there.  
Keeping even his head lifted was a a task that took more energy than the violinist could muster, but still he managed to put his own arms over the form of the lizard which curled about him in a returned embrace. The sounds produced from somewhere deep within the lizard were amusing and nice, it was nearly a purr.

Going slack again he rested the entirety of his minimal weight into Luchino.  
It reminded him of how the doctor had held him guiding the collapsed man back to his room after that massive fit he threw. How long ago it seemed now.

The door which led down into the basement was carelessly left ajar, most likely by the violinist himself.

Joseph reflexively looked about, his own heart hammering now. If this was left open, it was entirely possible the specimen could have escaped and was loose up here as well..  
The door appeared unassuming, but it was heavily reinforced specifically to 

contain this new specimen. It grew bigger than anticipated, broke free of it's binds and cells which were worn. This line of defense could not fail, God only knows what could occur if it made it above ground.  
If it had, the hypnotist suspected it would have found out in a much uglier manner, much earlier.  
It was still down there.

Joseph descended.

Closing his eyes for brief respite of the callous existence he'd been made to live beneath the hospital, Luchino couldn't think of any better way to feel human again, to feel love was to feel human.  
The dainty weight Antonio bared was nothing in the reptile's arms even as the man let himself go limp.

Scooping his body closer, Luchino shifted his patient's body to rest over his arm as he shifted himself to sit up, cradling the other closely as he felt was safe was he lingered toward the exit of the basement to risk the delivery of Antonio's body back to his bed.

As he began to move himself, a tongue instinctually surveyed the area and once more, someone's scent carried over the slow wafting air.

This was it, Luchino thought, as he smelled the vague floral cologne mixed with sanitizing washes.

The soothed feeling of holding onto Antonio's body did little to keep the lizard stable as his aggression picked up, lowering his head as he leered down the hall he made pitch black in the hunt for Antonio.  
There was no better time then the present to try and get a jump on the horrid man, being shrouded in the dark aside from himself, still illuminated much to the current dismay, Luchino kept himself low as he tried to steady himself toward one of the open doors down the corridor, hiding as much of Antonio's body as he could, though instinct was driven by fear, and frankly, Desaulniers scared him.

There was something inherently hideous about a man who'd join this profession to prove his powerful hold over another human and would then conspire with another to transform their co-worker into a monster that would have no choice but to live far, far away from any other's, basement, cave or forest, a place where no one else would go would be the only place he could live any more, it left him with choice on what to do but now he knew that for as long as he knew Antonio was locked in the asylum, he'd content himself to live below everyone else just so that he could remain near.

Tucked away, he was able to free up an arm as it only took one limb to hold the violinist's body, one arm was hopefully all he'd need to incapacitate Desaulniers, though between he and Lapadura, it was Joseph who'd aim and shoot those God awful tranquilizers that he'd still have yet to become resistant to, if he'd ever.

With a low growl, Luchino would use that as wordless threat to the approaching doctor, a tail tapping against the wall.

Antonio could hear footsteps, distinctly belonging to the hypnotist. Before he could perk up, knowing that Luchino was alerted to this far more threatening interloper before he himself was, there was a sound, something which whipped through the air.

Joseph wasn't the sort of villain tempted to monologue or torment his prey before he was certain they were his. Shoot first, clean up later.  
The glowing creature was easy enough to spot from a distance, he allowed no time for conversation or evasion. 

Without much waiting between shots, with a practiced accuracy Joseph fired three more, each landing into the formidable reptilian.

"You remind me of that painting.." Joseph mused out-loud.

"The Kiss, by Klimt.. Only somewhat." 

Joseph minded a distance and reloaded his gun swiftly, carrying extra doses. He couldn't be sure when this creature would develop an immunity, it would only help to load him with enough to drop a raging mammoth.

"I hadn't really anticipated this, I will confess."

Tucking in the corridor was a good enough idea, but Joseph moved swift and he moved without hesitation, a fearful combination to belong to a cruel mind of someone as conniving as himself.  
Luchino growled to try and ward the man off, not bothering to humor him with any plead or dialogue— he knew already the doctor didn't respond to emotion no matter what body it belonged to.  
In spite of his better hope to see himself and perhaps even Antonio out of the basement, all efforts to sneak and attack as usual were foiled by the doctor Desaulniers, a man without mercy and without feelings but surely he was good enough at pretending to be a sympathetic creature.

As the last shots were made, it didn't take the other doctor long at all to traverse to his hiding place and line his side with the tranquilizers.  
Hissing violently as he made eye contact with Desaulniers, Luchino felt all the more need to hold Antonio's body close for as long as Luchino could bear his own weight against the doses that wouldn't take long to course through his own body,  
"That's not what this is!"  
Luchino yelled back at Joseph with a snap of his teeth, trying to defend his pride as a doctor against the assumption made,

"And imagine how I feel, huh? All this time with no one but you and Lapadura coming in and out and suddenly I get two visitors in one night, one of which is Paganini..!"

Stomping a foot on the ground, respectfully and with no where to go, Luchino could not use the withering energy to kill Joseph, badly as he wanted to, aside from food there would be no gain, only punishment,

"Don't you dare hurt him. If I ever catch wind that you hurt him for this little venture, I will make sure to kill you."

Defending Antonio's safety first and foremost, Luchino loomed at the doctor below with teeth bared as a low growl came out, the crystals over his body glowed with renewed passion as he held fast on his patient's body, muscles beginning to relax as he lowered into a squat.

It was concerning that DeRossi hadn't dropped yet. These were dulling, just as expected. He would need to formulate something stronger.

Joseph had the advantage of a very keen aim, and Luchino's illuminated figure made for an easy enough to hit target, especially as he made himself large and protective over the patient trapped in the crystal form of the creature.  
Joseph dared to glance off only for a moment. The light bulbs were all destroyed. 

"Two visitors-?" Joseph repeated, and as he examined closer, daring a few steps closer to the hostile animal, he could see the carnage.

"Ah.." 

He would need to check for family, construct an alibi. It was a dismal thing to do, but Joseph had little choice.

"If you had intended to threaten me, you should have done so earlier, he's already been hurt."

In the dark, none but Luchino would be able to see the smile which spread serenely across Joseph's usual, cool demeanor.

The very first tranquillizer fired and landed into Antonio who was settled in the core of Luchino. 

"Un-intentional, I assure you, but I was aiming for you."

"These are made just for you, you know.. Hitting a person like he, I'm not completely positive he'll survive.."

And it was so, in Luchino's protective hold though he was not especially lively beforehand, he was deadweight now, head lulled. Antonio had not even the time to react to being stuck. He lived still, though his body temperature was low, his heartbeat was rapid, he was alive. Currently.

In the grand scheme of it, Luchino's guilt over eating the staff was minimal as of now, it could be a sin he would allow himself to mourn later and blame on his co-workers for making him behave this way.  
But as he yelled for Antonio's safety, Joseph told him something he desperately didn't wish to hear.

His blood ran colder then ice as he looked down in his arm and saw his patient completely limp, his body was chilled and Luchino's own blood would leech onto any warmth Antonio gave, and would never be inclined to return it,

"No.. No..!"  
He tried to lower himself to view the ghostly man who was often tethered by his own hair, the tranquilizer made sure his energy wouldn't amount to much as he began to let the violinist slip, letting go gently onto the floor behind his tail.

With the tranquilizer still slowly emitting through his body, Luchino could tell they were getting weaker but with that fact, it meant he'd have to do emphasize his points as fast as he could, using the monstrous body Joseph gave him to an advantage

"He has to live— you will make him live..!"

Luchino threatened the man with a escalating voice, forcing an arm out to grip at the doctor's body, his figure was small and easy for Luchino to wrap the glassy sharp claws around the body, ensuring his threat would be heard in peace before the current set of tranquillizers settled in, 

"You will take him from me and you will give him the best treatment you can offer and you will continue to fulfill any one of his stupid requests..!"

Yelling at Desaulniers with all the might and fury he had left, Luchino's tail slammed into the wall by the doorway, shattering the construction with minimal splinting of the structure surrounding the tip of his tail,

"I'll never forgive you if he dies! I'll break out and kill everyone here if you let him die!"

With his energy depleting faster and faster with all of his yelling, Luchino pulled his arm away and huddled his lazy body around Antonio's own, urging his arm to hold the violinist close again but limbs began to refuse cooperation as he displayed a violent strength against the doorway, emphasizing his point to the doctor whilst depleting his stamina,

"If you won't let me take care of him, someone else was to.."

Luchino griped quietly, keeping his patient's body away from the shrapnel that tumbled inward from his crash,

"It gets cold at night, you can't let him sleep with just one blanket."

Resting his head over the body he so dearly wanted to keep near, Luchino knew it was better in all ways for the man to be taken from him, Luchino produced no heat, his body was nowhere near safe to hold and his appetite was not beyond human— all of this he knew and yet he still mourned the inability to keep Antonio close to himself as the tip of his tongue flicked out, gathering one last smell of the man with as close as a kiss he could manage, though his energy went fast on his own actions, Luchino remained conscious still as he peered at Antonio's face, drugged and mesmerized over the unconventional attraction and fear he felt for the man.

It was touching.

Joseph was not the feeling-less monster all made him out to be, but he was one to reason away emotional attachments. Looking at the creature before him, panicked and already in mourning for another creature he concerned himself too deeply over, convinced himself he might not be able to live without him resulted in this pain.  
Life was so fragile. 

Especially in ones such as the violinist. Joseph hated having to look at him, his diminished figure and pallid complexion, grotesque. 

Taken off guard by the piteous outcry of the crystalline reptilian, Joseph hadn't any time to react or shoot anymore when the creature was before him in a flash, the entirety of his vision filled now with an expressed fury on a monstrous face, the eerie glow from every crystal that erupted from the scales of his body intensified by his emotional reaction. Joseph would have noted that as an interesting reaction were his attention not so held by his life being held now in the icy, lethal grip of a creature whom had every reason to tear him to shreds and paint the filthy walls of this underground with his insides.

Hitting Antonio was an accident, but he was now grateful for it, it may be the only reason Luchino did not destroy him now.

Stoic as Joseph could be, he wore a face of terror, trying to writhe from Luchino's grip would likely just result in lacerations here and there for it, so he remained still.

The sight of the creature's teeth, sharp and plentiful, Joseph could hardly focus on the words that came from the same mouth.  
The very instant he was freed, Joseph staggered back, breathing again.

He would have, in the attempt to defend his pride from the state of terror the sheer force of Luchino prompted him to, spat further insult, but he was silenced by the tender manner in which the monster returned to the filthy patient on the floor. 

He spoke deliriously to himself, fretting over the fate of the other.  
Joseph remained quiet, awaiting the drugs to completely collapse the massive creature.

....  
.....  
......

When Antonio's eyes opened again, he woke gently, then with a start as though from a nightmare he could not re-call the moment he became conscious.  
The hospital's ceiling above him, his bedroom around him, the only unique attributes were an IV drip that wasn't there last he could re-call.  
His body felt intense fatigue, he has not moved in days, his muscles stiffness suggested as much.

Tying to sit up was more or less in vain, he could not will his weight up.

"Ah, what a coincidence, you're up."

It was Desaulniers' voice.

"You had a seizure a few days ago promptly following a sedative overdose."

Antonio opened his mouth to reply, but his throat was intensely dry, he could not speak. Having no memory of what Joseph reported, but then.. It did sound within the realm of something he would do.

"Wh-", Antoino tried and fell into a small coughing fit.

It was Desaulniers who assisted him up somewhat, and lifted a glass of water to his lips.  
Once able to replenish himself and wet his throat, Antonio tried again.

"Where is Luchino..?"

A hum from Joseph.

"Ah, that's right, you wouldn't remember.. He left us to pursue an opportunity at a special research institute run by a trusted companion of the director Lapadura."

Confusion was visible on Antonio's bleary face, he could feel his hair was all pulled from his face, the room appeared far too bright.

"I can show you some of the disclosable documents later on, if you very much desire proof of some kind.." Joseph added, sounding weary already.

The incapacitated violinst seemed to have no idea where to begin. None of that made sense.  
Where did he see Luchino last..? He could not remember. There was something there, something that rung like a bell with familiarity if he thought of Luchino, but he couldn't make the image any clearer in his head. He couldn't remember.

"As soon as you're healthy, at the request of your lawyer you will be discharged from here."

"Discharged..?" Antonio repeated, helplessly confused.

"Yes, in his beliefs this hospital is unhelpful to your recovery." Joseph explained, in a manner like it was a tedious chore, and his distasteful tone suggested he had more conversations with an irate lawyer regarding a sedative overdose his client was somehow able to throw himself into despite having a reputation for that sort of thing, than he very much would have liked.

"I suppose he isn't incorrect, were weren't able to prevent you from sneaking into the pharmacy and loading up. So, perhaps you'll fair better out there, than in here." Joseph shrugged, lazily going over a checklist regarding Antonio's health during this little visit.  
Antonio could not respond with any sort of leisure or mundane cheer, too much made no sense.  
Wracking his memory, Antonio re-called he snuck out of his room in the dark, he stole a key, he..  
He stole sedatives and overdosed. That is what the hypnotist told him.

"For now, please rest up a little. I'll be back in a little while and perhaps we can get you on your feet."

Joseph left his room, and whilst the door was opening he could hear the unique liveliness of the hospital, of patients chattering and walking about. When the door shut, the sound was deafening.

When he finally came back to his senses, Luchino's body was kept in the same place he had initially knocked out at, though the atmosphere was completely different as he shuffled upward, trying to shake of the heavy drowsy affect tranquilizers left behind.  
There were no more foreign smells wafting from above, no more Antonio left by his arms and no more Joseph.  
Returning to the quiet, desolate halls given to him to roam, Luchino skulked back to the very end of the basement, coiling as tight as he could as he would be given no choice but to await next visitation from either Lapadura or Joseph.

In consequence, good and bad of having threatened Joseph so violently, Lapadura began exercising a greater care for Luchino every time he'd visit for samples and to run more tests, the man had become more compliant only under the care that Luchino would be given a complete detailed update on Antonio's healing progress and ensured reports that he was being given the care he very much needed to stay well— tedious as it all was to catalog the violinist's health and recovery right down to the very minute of his care and dosage of his medicine, Lapadura found it worth it in comparison to being the next person torn apart and eaten by the monster he had created.

Doing this earned a complete cooperation with little to no hissing, biting, cursing and yelling, Lapadura began to let his guard down and decided the beast was passive enough as long as he came with the report, now leaving behind his tranquilizer gun for every visit,  
"..So then what? What will you do when Paganini finally leaves, eh?"  
Lapadura continued conversation as he scraped off the sides of the durable crystalline formation over the tip of Luchino's tail into a petri dish, covering the plate up as he took out another,  
"Who knows."  
Luchino answered easily as he rested his head into his arms,  
"Pah, what a short answer for someone so protective."  
Scoffing, Burke shook his head and took a tongue depressor from his health kit,  
"Open up."  
And on Burke's command, Luchino opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue for the doctor to collect the sample of his saliva, scraping the excess of it into the dish.

Lazing his head around, Luchino thought much about what he'd do if he found out they let Antonio go, he knew it would likely take time for one of the two to make a sloppy mistake in their report which would alert him Antonio was gone, but where that man went, he would follow as best he could.  
Unable to test his extent much, Luchino wasn't positive but he held the great assumption that with as bulky and strong as his body had gotten, he would simply break down the door and leave to find the man, leaving as few tracks in his wake as possible.  
He knew he was fast, incredibly durable with an increased resistant to any drug that would put him out, that he was armed with tooth, claw, gills, tail, venom and a terrifying visage, that was all he was certain he needed to escape to go and find Antonio again, a claw tapped pensively as he daydreamed.

Much later in the evening as he was packing his own bags and documents, the director cleared his throat and suddenly addressed the elephant in the room to his co-worker,

"I don't think we can keep it much longer."

Burke started to Desaulniers, his tone steady as prepped to leave,  
"If it finds out that Paganini is gone, I don't think even five reinforced doors will keep it contained. Crystalline is smart as we are and much stronger, if we let our guard down for a moment, we will be killed."

He was stoic as he spoke the matter of fact, latching the lock over his bag and suitcase, the elder took off his lab coat and hung it over a coat hanger as he turned to face the doctor,

"If it should catch on and find Paganini is absent, you are to allow its freedom and escort it out. I'm not willing to risk a rampage happening in my hospital. This research isn't getting us anywhere.."

Burke scorned with a hostile bitterness, burned by the recollection of his council with the devilish creature that supplied him the 'cure all' to end all disease,

"Good evening."

Burke ended, tipping his hat to the co-worker as he left ahead of time and closed the door behind.


End file.
